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青頸觀自在菩薩心陀羅尼經

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Text ID
KR6j0321
Date
746–774
Dynasty
唐

Qīngjǐng Guānzìzài púsà xīn tuóluóní jīng 青頸觀自在菩薩心陀羅尼經

Heart-Dhāraṇī Sūtra of the Blue-Necked Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva (Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara-hṛdaya-dhāraṇī) by 不空 (Bùkōng, Amoghavajra, 注 — annotator/redactor)

About the work

A one-fascicle Tang Esoteric hṛdaya-dhāraṇī on Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara (青頸觀自在 Qīngjǐng Guānzìzài, “Blue-Throated Avalokiteśvara”) — the Avalokiteśvara emanation absorbed from the Indian Śaivite Nīlakaṇṭha-Śiva, marked by the dark-blue throat that recalls the myth of Śiva’s swallowing the world-poison halāhala at the churning of the cosmic ocean. Annotated/redacted (注) by Amoghavajra (不空), as one of the Tang Esoteric Avalokiteśvara-emanation cycle. The text is grouped with KR6j0322 (T1112), KR6j0323 (T1113A), and KR6j0324 (T1113B) — all four are Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara texts representing different stages of the Tang and post-Tang Chinese reception of this material.

Abstract

The discourse is set at the palace of Vaiśravaṇa (毘沙門天王宮 Píshāmén tiānwánggōng) — the heavenly king of the north. The Buddha expounds the past-life narrative of Avalokiteśvara: “Innumerable, boundless, asaṃkhyeya kalpas in the past, there was a Buddha named […].” The text recounts Avalokiteśvara’s past-life vow as the first attainer of the Nīlakaṇṭha form, the dhāraṇī he received from his teacher-Buddha, and the operative ritual procedure for the cult. The Nīlakaṇṭha-dhāraṇī — known in popular liturgical usage as the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒 Dàbēizhòu) of East Asian Buddhism in its later expanded form — is here in its early-Tang core version. The text expounds the vidyā-formulae, the mudrā-repertoire, the iconographic specifications (multi-armed Avalokiteśvara with the dark-blue throat-mark and the trīśūla, cintāmaṇi, lotus, and vajra), and the siddhi-applications.

The Nīlakaṇṭha-Avalokiteśvara cycle is one of the most important Tang Esoteric currents because the Nīlakaṇṭha-dhāraṇī — as the Great Compassion Mantra (大悲咒) — became the most widely-recited mantra in East Asian Buddhism, integrated into Chán-Tiāntái-Pure-Land daily liturgy as a core devotional formula. The Tang Esoteric foundation of this cult is preserved in this and the parallel texts (KR6j0322–KR6j0324).

Translations and research

  • Reis-Habito, Maria. Die Dhāraṇī des Großen Erbarmens des Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara mit tausend Händen und Augen. Nettetal: Steyler, 1993 — the definitive monograph on the Dàbēizhòu / Nīlakaṇṭha cycle.
  • Lokesh Chandra. The Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara. Delhi: Abhinav, 1988 — Indian-origin background.
  • Studholme, Alexander. The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Hūṃ: A Study of the Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra. Albany: SUNY, 2002 — adjacent material on Avalokiteśvara’s mantra-cult.

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